Frank Carson’s daughter reveals heartache

Frank Carson

THE daughter of one of Ulster’s best-known comedians has spoken of her father’s final days and how the family helped hasten his end.

Majella Carson, daughter of Belfast funnyman Frank, said she was “upset” at being faced with the nightmare scenario, but felt the Liverpool Pathway method of easing his distress was more humane.

Recalling the day her family faced the heartbreaking decision, Majella said the doctors told them to “start making preparations”.

She said: “We didn’t want to start planning the funeral; that would have been accepting it was over.

“Da had been distressed during the day so they’d [doctors] put him on the Liverpool Pathway and injected him with morphine; it’s very controversial at the moment as some patients are put on it without their families’ consent and it means no more water or food is given to them.

“I was very upset about it but they said it was the best care plan for him, the most humane way for him to go.

“There was no way he could have come back.”

Frank Carson was born in north Belfast and starred in local clubs before moving to England where his television career took off in the mid 1960s.

He suffered from cancer and was buried from St Patrick’s Church in his native city last February.

In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph this week, Majella said her father died, aged 85, just two days after beginning the Liverpool Pathway programme in a Blackpool hospital.

“At least we all had a chance to say goodbye. He died two days later on Pancake Tuesday – we said it was so he wouldn’t have to go off anything for Lent, not that he would’ve,” she added.